Green tea cake

Since I went to Japan and I discovered how many things you can do with green tea, I knew I must bring some to Poland and make my own recipe. The basis for this easy cake is an ordinary sponge cake and powdered green tea- very common in the Cherry Blossom Land. It's also becoming more popular outside Japan now. Feel free to try out this recipe :) And the story of the tea ceremony in Japan soon on the blog! 

Ingredients:

For the sponge cake:

- 6 free-range eggs

- 6 tablesp of sugar

- 3 heaped tablesp of extra fine sponge cake flour

- 3 heaped tablesp of wheat flour

- 2-3 tablesp of macha (powdered green tea)

For the butter cream:

- 250 g of mascarpone cheese

- 330 g of 30% fat cream

- 3 heaped tablesp of powdered sugar

For garnishing:

- 2-3 tablesp of macha (powdered green tea)
- a few fresh mint leaves

Take out the eggs from the fridge 2-3 hours before preparing the cake so that they can reach the room temperature.

Set the oven to 200 Celsius degrees. Put the baking paper at the bottom of a round cake form.

Separate the eggs whites and yolks. Put the whites in a large bowl and add a pinch of salt. Beat them with a hand mixer until they become stiff. Then, add the 6 tabelsp of sugar one by one making short breaks in between.  Do the same with yolks- one by one, not all at once. Set the hand mixer aside and add the flours- one tablespoon by one as well, but use a wooden spoon to mix the dough. Add the green tea and mix thoroughly. Pour the dough into the form and bake for around 30-40 min. When you put a wooden stick inside it should come out dry- then, the dough is ready.  

When the dough is baked take it out and throw on the floor from the height of 30-40 cm. Put it to the turned-off oven and let it cool. Keep the oven door half open.

In the meantime prepare the butter cream. Beat the cream until it becomes light and fluffy. Add the sugar and then mascarpone cheese and mix thoroughly but not too long.  

After cooling the sponge cake cut it into two layers. Spread the butter cream on the first layer and put the second one on top. Then cover the whole cake with the rest of the butter cream. Garnish with the green tea and mint leaves.